Cody Eastwood channels his inner minstrel to tell the story of Dallas’ 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, and of the four-point night for Tyler Seguin. View the Game in Six Minutes here and you will be ready for the required reading that follows.

I mean, you fight through five years of no playoffs, two years of bank ownership, one summer of reconstruction, and you want results.

You want some wins.

You want some happy.

And here the Stars come and just make you wait some more. They botch the opener, they’re good in Game 2, they sit around for five days and collect dust.

Seriously?

But nights like Friday are good reason to take it on faith, to take it to the heart, because there are some good signs here. Tyler Seguin showed just a glimpse of what everyone was talking about Friday in a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Two goals, two assists…he was the most dominant player on the ice, and he did his damage in the first half of the game. He not only pushed the Stars forward with speed, he made a statement out there that this is something that doesn’t have to be considered unusual.

There was much hype on Seguin when he arrived via trade from Boston. He’s 21, he’s the second overall pick in 2010. He’s already won a Stanley Cup. This guy is going to hear all about Mike Modano for the next decade.

But the thing about Modano is he didn’t figure it out for a while. He came pre-packaged to Dallas with a 93-point season in his pocket. He was the first overall pick, for heaven’s sake. But it took him a while in Dallas before he learned the intricacies of defending, the mental dedication, the art of winning.

The process was fun to watch, but it was a process.

Seguin on Friday showed flashes of what he can be. His rocket of a one-timer from distance was part luck and part talent. Yeah, the bouncing puck hit just right, but only a select few can hit that bouncing puck the right way.

His scoring chances were born of speed and confidence _ two things that should be there every game. His chemistry with Jamie Benn was aided by the ascension of former Bruins teammate Rich Peverley to the top line. That’s a point that shouldn’t be missed.

But, in the end, Seguin is just really good. And now he has to start the painful process of being really good as a No. 1 center against the best defenders in the NHL on a night-by-night basis. And that’s something that should be worth waiting for.

You tried to convince yourself of that several times in the last few years. Heck, 2008 really felt like déjà vu all over again. But it didn’t happen for the Stars then. In fact, it was kind of a painful tease that ended up creating this feeling of impatience. It was false start after false start after false start.

But those who go back to the beginning in Dallas know that things were built slowly. They remember how things evolved, how they swapped out Tinordi and Broten and Gagne and Adams and Harvey and Klatt and Ledyard. They remember how the replacements came with names like Zubov and Carbonneau and Nieuwendyk and Langenbrunner and Hull and Sydor. They remember that the new guys were just a little different, just a little better.

And they remember the process and looked back on it as the good ol’ days.

Well, I’m no prophet, and I don’t know nature’s way…but you can possibly anticipate that something similar might be happening now.

Seguin has the potential to be better than Derek Roy or Mike Ribeiro or even Brad Richards. It isn’t out of the question to imagine he could have a 90-point season. That’s a high bar, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but games like Friday’s give you a peek into the potential, a glimpse of the possible greatness. Guys like that score in open ice, they pick up second assists, they load up on power play points.

And teams with guys like that often win.

And when you look at Cody Eakin or Brenden Dillon or Alex Chiasson, you see that this team might be upgrading over more recent teams. They’re not huge upgrades, but when you put them together _ and add a few more _ then the past teams start looking like the ones that gave way to the late ‘90s squads that won five straight division championships.

And you do wonder if maybe you should stay patient, if you should enjoy the ride, if you should realize that maybe, these are the good ol’ days.

Like the lonely rider Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, the Stars have promises to keep. Friday’s game revealed that. For the blizzard of goals scored and points created, there still is much plowing to do with this team.

The Winnipeg Jets _ the worst faceoff team in the NHL _ won 63 percent of their draws (40-of-64). The Stars won 37 percent. It’s a huge issue, and it plays into one of the key needs of this organization, which is to reduce shots against.

Dallas faced 44 shots on Friday, and got strong performances from both Kari Lehtonen and Dan Ellis in goal. The latter had to make 22 saves on 23 shots in just over 25 minutes of ice time. He came in after Lehtonen suffered a lower body injury in the second period. Ellis had to face 20 shots in the third period alone.

To be fair, the Stars were protecting a 4-0 lead, but they took three penalties and handed out five minutes of power play time in the period, and that’s a formula for disaster we have seen too many times in recent years. After three games, the Stars rank 28th in shots against per game at 36.3 and rank 24th in faceoff winning percentage at 46.5 percent. Those numbers have to improve.

We’re not really sure what happened with Lehtonen. He got hit in the mask with a hard shot from Jacob Trouba while going down in a butterfly. He then left. It was assumed he might have upper body issues, possibly a concussion, but the report was lower body after the game. He was walking around and looked fine, and he might return in time to play Tuesday at Colorado, but that doesn’t mean you can just dismiss the coincidence of him leaving a game where the team faced so many shots.

It happened last season, and Lehtonen was injured.

It happened two seasons ago, and Lehtonen was injured.

In addition to helping you win games, keeping the shots down keeps your goalie healthy…and that seems a cause worth working for.

You’re not alone in wondering just what kind of team this is. The coaching and management staffs are still trying to find out what they have here. Even the players are probably a little curious to see where this all ends. They believe, but they’d still like a little more evidence on which to base their confidence.

Everyone will get a chance to see a little more on Saturday. The Stars flew down from Winnipeg to the Twin Cities and will take on a feisty Wild team Saturday night. The back-to-back to challenge is well-documented for this team, but a new twist is added to this trip.

These are three teams that are battling for key points in the newly formed Central Division. In fact, these could be three teams that fight for third place behind supposed favorites Chicago and St. Louis. Let me assure you that the head-to-heads with Winnipeg, Minnesota and Colorado will all be referenced at the end of the season when the playoff race is heating up.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Stars are trying to patiently wait, they are trying to stop and appreciate the beauty, they are trying to remember just how much work is needed every day.

Seguin on Friday briefly wore the cowboy hat that is being given by the players to the top player after each game. He set it down quickly after interviews and hurried to make the bus…to make the plane…to play again.

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